MARSH FEN AND TOWN........AND CLASS PART 3. GANG LABOUR - THE ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF THE WORKING CLASS

As more land was reclaimed from the Fens of South Lincolnshire and its neighbouring counties there developed an increasing shortfall of labour. Unlike much of Europe there was not a peasant class to own and exploit. Indeed, the last vestiges of anything close to the peasant system of people tied to the local priories and abbeys disappeared with the dissolution of the monasteries. The fens were very thinly populated and did not enjoy the villages and close populations that the landed gentry had created to service their requirements in other parts of rural Britain. Indeed villages were tiny hamlets that clung to the sides of the higher banks that formed roadways and droves throughout the Fens.  Housing was sparse and in short supply. Population density was very low.

However, whilst rich men were happy to invest in the reclamation of land from Fen for agriculture and so enjoy the uplift of income from rents they were not prepared to invest in infrastructure that would enable people to live in the area and supply their labour locally. This is illustrated by the Carrington estate near Boston in 1860 having 2400 acres of cultivated land but only 20 cottages. At that time such an acreage would require up to 160 men full time plus seasonal women and children. Was the shortage of labour effectively self-inflicted?  It should be considered that the estate was initially funded by Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington a successful banker who funded the Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.

As the new farms developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries housing for essential workers to the farm was built for key workers. This helped tie them to their farm employers, and their families, women and children from age five upwards were employed as required. Additional labour was procured from the larger towns  with housing developing at the ends of towns (hence such names as Fen End and Little London forming at town ends). They would travel on foot ten miles or more to work. These local groups of workers formed the original gangs, that is, the gang master would procure the labour and supply it to do he farmer. The early gangs were often extended family units and this type of seasonal family gang was quite common into the twentieth century.

We also saw a further development in the settlement of people in Fenland as  housing sprung up away from the centre of the Fenland parishes driven by the plentiful supply of work. These small villages were at the "heel" of  the parishes, hence Weston Hills and Gedney Hill in the flat landscape devoid of contours they were at the "heel" of the parish.

The nineteenth Century saw the Napoleonic Wars reduce labour nationally, but as steam ships and later the train developed labour became more portable. The Irish famine saw gangs of migrants seeking work usually in extended family units. You also saw seasonal gangs from Industrial areas of the Midlands and the North East as the fortunes of various industries (e.g. the cotton famine) or the seasonal fluctuations of demand freed up labour (e.g. Less coal demanded in summer meant lay-offs). In addition gangs of navigators digging drains, embankments and roadways as the drainage of the Fens accelerated in the Industrial Age. The gang system became entrenched in the Eastern counties of England and was strongest in the Fens.

Gangs formed into two types: Private gangs - these were often family groups  of men, women and children and were employed and paid direct by the farmer; Public gangs - these were made up of persons who hired "children, young persons or women to work on land not in their possession"  and became regulated under our he 1867 Gangs Act and had to be licensed by local magistrates. When you read Edward Stanhope's report about employment of children, young persons and women of 1867 you see a consensus that employment of these groups is necessary and vital to local farmers. Whilst you see some concern for physical well-being the greater concern is for their moral well-being.

"It's no use separating girls from boys, unless you separate the young girls from prostitutes and the elder women who demoralize them."  Mr.J. Leader Spalding police superintendent

"As for girls, it units them for service; they grow so uncouth and their character is so bad." Mr.E.Storr relieving officer for Spalding.

"Morally field work is very injurious, and separation of the sexes should be strictly enforced in all cases."  E. Morris Esq. M.D. medical officer.

"My girl of 8 goes to work: she doesn't go in a gang; she goes to a farmer. I wouldn't let her go in a gang. She goes at 6. I have six children. We've two bedrooms. I've seen 13 or 14 come out of a morning out of that house (two doors off) boys and girls and women. We don't know whether they are married or not. It's the same size as mine. They lie as thick as thieves, and they live like pigs."  Bright - labourer, Spalding.

"I've come to Spalding to complain against a (public) ganger for beating my boy. My boy is 11; he can't read. I can't afford to give nine children schooling." Mrs. Kirby, labourers wife.

"Children go to work younger than they used........One reason is, the growth of root crops, such as carrots and potatoes, which require so much young labour." Mr Wilson, National schoolmaster.

"When I myself want children for weeding etc. I offer higher than gang wages, which are 6d. for children....and the bigger children come to us. .....the gangs (public) are then filled up with little ones, who are pushed out again when I have done with the elder ones." - Mr Benjamin Hardy, farmer, Crowland

"Out of 200 children going to field work here, I calculate 80 to be in public gangs." Mr. Wm. Hutchinson church warden, Crowland.

"My girl (8) goes in a gang. She went four miles yesterday. She goes out at 6.30am (in November). " Mrs. Hoone labourers wife.

"If girls go to work (in fields) they seldom go to service. But I don't think it hurts them in the least; they grow up stronger than other girls, so I don't think they should be stopped from working." Edward Pawlett, large occupier Deeping St James.

"I went to Mr. John Holland's in the Fen this summer (private gang) . His near farm is three miles, but he has one farm at Deeping St Nicholas (six miles). We'd sometimes have to go to t'other end of it (three miles further). I got 7d a day.....I went at 5 and got back at 7." Earnest Hare aged 11. 7d was the price of a full loaf of bread in Lincolnshire at that time.

"Treading wheat after sowing is a very large employment for young children here. Girls do a great deal of the work; some of them go tenting all summer. Many come to school only two months of the year." Mr.Futcher schoolmaster North Kyme.

Moral well-being being a greater driver than physical (mental well-being was not even on the radar with mental illness being a weakness of character) is illustrated in the words of the Rev. J.S. Warren vicar of Langtoft and magistrate:

"I am inclined to think the evil done to children physically by field work is often exaggerated. With the exception of very young children, and of girls at a certain age, I believe  that living in the fresh air more than compensates  for the occasional too great fatigue. In 10 years I have observed only one case (that of a girl) of death traceable to exposure in the fields."

Before I quote his next words, just think, here we have a clergyman and a magistrate expressing no concern for children working in fields, them being "occasionally" suffering great fatigue, and only one of them dying. After all she was a girl! His next words sum up this train of thought:

"I think, however, very differently of the moral evils."

He then extols how the he remedy is to educate children so long as it does not interfere with the requirements of agriculture and his main objection to girls working in the field is that "it makes them low and unfitting them for service." In other words the Vicarage may struggle to find a decent scullery maid! It was also a concern that it would make girls unfit to be good wives with appropriate household skills. But as only one dies every ten years its possibly an acceptable necessity!

The 1867 Gangs Act regulated public gangs but its focus was driven by moral welfare. No child under 8 was allowed to work in a public gang and women and girls had to work in separate gangs to men. Female gangs had to be headed by a female gang master. All gang masters had to be licensed by their local magistrate, a role that was dominated by Church of England clergy. Gangmasters had to fit in to the magistrates view of being moral and upright. To become licenced it would not be unusual to see church attendance, marital status and an overall fit with the clergyman's values required to obtain a license. It also helped if your gang operated on the magistrate's land. The treatment of the workers and lack of shelter and housing for workers was of little concern .

When I read about the gang system there is a common view in academia that it died out from the 1880's persisting in a "less virulent form" among Irish labour. They then quote its resurgence in the 1980's. This view is highly erroneous and ignores the impacts of the world wars and the depression and devastation of industrial areas between the Wars.

From the 1870's the impact of free trade, combined with mechanisation of transport with steam ships and railways saw a huge increase in imported food. This was especially true in the case of grain with cheap imports from America, Russia and later Germany undercutting the British farmer. Coupled with this, especially in the Fens were harvests devastated by droughts and floods, the two extremes felt most in the Fens of Eastern England. Farming entered a declining period that was only relieved by the shortages created by German U-Boats in WW1. In this period America had vast unlocked plains producing thousands of tons of grain cheaply, efficiently combined with an excellent distribution and transport system. Russia had vast plains producing cheap low quality grain at low cost using an exploited peasantry. As we entered the twentieth century Germany had a government that subsidised agriculture, agricultural development and processing. England neglected both its farming and its food processing and distribution. (By 1914 it was up to 40 years behind some countries in areas such as mechanization, pasteurization and bottling of milk, and sugar production despite pioneering some of these processes).

The decline of agriculture in the late nineteenth century saw a huge migration of people from countryside to towns. You also saw gang labour being used in other works, most notably in the Fens were drainage and railway work by navvies. A popular conception is that these gangs were primarily Irish. In reality they came from various areas of Britain especially from mining areas as various seams of tin, lead and coal ceased to be worked forcing that labour. You also saw gangs working on the vast improvements in towns and cities that happened in this period as infrastructure such as sewers and roads improved. It was a period of substantial building and the urban drew gang labour that benefited from greater portability of the railways. Members of my family migrated for two years to work in a gang of bricklayers.

Although agriculture was depressed the gang system of labour survived in a changed form. The zealous defence of public morals by clerical magistrates saw them using the gang licensing system against public gangs, especially women and children. They wanted women to be working wives or in household service so valued by the middle and upper classes. They wanted children in education. Indeed, well off land owning farmers also wanted this so that their homes were staffed and they had workers that were educated just enough for their practical needs in a modernising society. Private gangs became dominant, sourced locally from the cottage class or nearby towns. These were supplemented by imported  private gangs seasonally employed for specific tasks such as fruit picking, or lifting of root crops. The railway meant that seasonal workers could be procured from the Industrial Midlands. Fruit picking is a short season and this requirement for large quantities of short term labour meant orchards tended to develop close to towns with railways.

Seasonal gangs from industry whilst legally 'private' gangs employed by the farmer naturally formed in the same social and family units that they had back in their home towns and had leaders that organised them and maintained discipline. Gypsy gangs were very similar migrating with the season and the available work. Irish gangs tended to operate in extended family units.

In addition to the migratory gangs you had local gangs. As horticulture developed in the Fens gangs of young girls and women were preferred as they were deemed faster, more agile, more compliant and cheaper than men and boys. These gangs developed from family units and especially the cottager class. You also had gangs develop around mechanization especially the use of traction engines for ploughing and threshing, many of these would develop into contractors, a more familiar structure of employment of agricultural labour and machinery in the twentieth century.

Although agriculture was in a recession, the loss of labour to towns and cities combined with a lack of rural housing meant a shortage of labour was maintained with seasonal requirements being met by gangs. The draw of labour into the armed services in WW1 saw an increase in gang labour of various nature. The women's Land Army formed in 1917, effectively  a form of gang labour under state control. In almost every rural area you saw increased use of child and female labour in agriculture. There was some Belgian refugee labour, but I have only found one such gang in Norfolk. In Spalding Belgian refugees, whilst mostly housed together, we're employed in a more integrated way in the locality. The extended family gangs dominated in the Fens until the late 1920's when the public gang re-emerged. To stay within the law these were mostly male, but especially in the Wisbech area, there were some public female gangs. You see fights between rival gangs reported with mangolds and potatoes being thrown at each other.

As the depression took hold you see increased numbers of seasonal migrants desperately seeking work from the Industrial Midlands and North East. There are clear indications of exploitation and hardship as workers were even charged for a sack of straw to sleep on in the barn. Workers were played off against each other and some struggled to earn the train fair home after being laid off for cheaper employment. Any crime by this group of people tended to be driven by desperation and poverty. These incoming seasonal gang labourers did not undermine local labour in the Fens because: horticulture, especially the booming flower trade, increased the need for experienced workers; increased investment in and development of agriculture; the beginning of the food processing industry, such as sugar beet, canning and dry freezing.

WW2 saw a draw on Labour through conscription, not just into the armed forces but also into coal mines and shipyards as members of my family experienced. Ireland being neutral meant Irish gang labour increased in value. After the Dunkirk evacuation gangs of soldiers were billeted and employed on Fenland farms short of labour in what was effective exploitation of a defeated army in desperate times. Local private gangs of women and children filled some of the labour gap with a relaxation of peacetime education rules. Once again the Women's Land Army contributed. As the War progressed gangs of prisoners of war, refugees and displaced persons worked on farms well into the 1950's often on subsistence levels of remuneration with poor accommodation.

As we entered the 1960's the food industry rapidly developed. It did use gang labour, but employed directly by the firms  that usually also provided accommodation and good social and physical welfare for their seasonal workers. The extended family unit dominated gangs, but the abolition of gang licencing in this period was to open the door to future issues. The period from 1960 to 1973 was one where workers in the agriculture and food industries prospered. Work was plentiful and you could change from job to job. The food industry provided excellent pay and conditions with increased opportunities and employment for women. The relationship of women to employment changed. In the past a farmworker could be relied upon to rope in his wife and older children to assist with seasonal tasks in private gangs. But the food and horticultural industries provided better paid alternatives. The standards of living of workers improved, but housing was still an issue in the region in both quality and availability.

The public gang system that had survived as an active supplier of labour primarily in the Wisbech area started to grow. Gangmasters exploited unemployment both locally and from industrial areas. These workers could circumvent Agricultural Wages Board rates of pay. In both farming and the food industry work was increasingly undermined by gang employers that had no holidays, no sick pay and questionable PAYE practices. By the early 90's seasonal and long term migrants from South Africa, Commonwealth and European countries dominated gang labour. The proportion of seasonal and casual workers in both agriculture and the food processing, packing and distribution industry increased.

At the same time housing availability grew BUT it was increasingly marketed to people retiring to the area from further South cashing in on their higher property values or purchasing second homes. Gang masters were buying accommodation for their workers that they funded by debating their wages. This was a highly exploitative industry aided by reducing barriers to people from Europe in particular. Unregulated houses of multiple occupancy developed.

Gang work was heavily cash orientated, I should know, I was the cashier arranging the cash orders. It was a highly abused corrupt system incorporating elements of organised crime that included people trafficking, slavery, illegal gambling, prostitution, drugs and smuggling of tobacco and alcohol.  Whether we like it or not I believe this was enabled by the food and farming industry of which we see the supermarkets as the ultimate beneficiaries in a layered process.

By 2003 a government select committee reported that about half the 72,000 seasonal workers required by UK agribusiness were supplied by about 2500 gangmasters. It is likely the number of workers is underreported due to the "black market" conditions of the time. In 2004 congratulated itself on introducing the Gang masters Licensing Authority, but by 2009 over 1200 were licensed. It is highly unlikely that the numbers had more than halved since 2003 and an Oxfam report confirmed continued exploitation and many unlicenced operators. By 2010 the Gangmasters Licensing Authority agreed a protocol. The reality is, in my informed opinion, is that it was lip service. In 2015 the Slavery Act was passed. Since then over 15,000 offences have been reported with fewer than 5% leading to charges. This is because the social, economic and criminal motives behind employment gangs and their abuse still exist in our food supply, processing and distribution system. Supermarkets have helped create a system where it is uneconomic to employ people directly throughout the farming and food industry, or have they?

In 2018 a Lincolnshire farmer fed me what is frankly a tired line that British people don't wish to work. In the subsequent conversation I pointed out to him that we both had hard-working sons of about the same age (18 at the time) and his view was putting them in the same category. His response was, "Oh no, I don't include them." We then looked at the hours of work, the pay and accommodation that his migrant gangs had. The simple fact is that for a person to live, pay rent or a mortgage and overheads in closing travelling to work was not liable. Add to that the uncertainty of work and income and you have an unenviable position only affordable to those living in poorer conditions of either caravans or multiple occupancy.  Gang work is both exploitative and it pushes wages down. There are many good well paid stable jobs in the food and farming industry but gang labour has undermined employment in the sector.

The gang system favoured cheaper foreign labour. The old extended local family gangs got pushed out. I worked with one for a day cropping sprouts near Boston. They had only survived as a gang because they had developed good relationships over many years with three significant South Lincolnshire growers, but the competition and dirty tricks of vandalism to vehicles and impersonation of them by other gangs to get their work as well as intimidation made it harder.

One other group of gang workers that had featured heavily in prior times in the Fens also disappeared, the regular gypsy gangs. Hard to believe nowadays that they lined the roads with their caravans in fruit picking season in the Cambridgeshire Tens in the 1970's.

Gang work in factories was subject to manipulation. Once committed to a site some gangs manipulated the workplace to exclude full time employees. The threat of withdrawing a gang of workers could cost thousands in lost production. I know of three local employees dismissed to appease gang monopolies of more lucrative night shifts or higher paid roles. This contrasts with the earlier gangs of workers from deindustrialised areas that travelled in vans and mini buses daily from Sheffield and Doncaster to Spalding who had to overcome local opposition and bigotry when they came to work in the late 80's. Indeed, it is ironic that I have seen the grandson of one such group that settled that experienced such exclusion in favour of the next generation of foreign gang workers ultimately moving away from the area.

In one of my past jobs I would go out to farms and factories to open bank accounts for seasonal  migrant  and gang workers. You got to learn that there were tensions between groups of people and employers would sometimes have to lay down the law that such regional differences would not be tolerated in the work place. Other employers deliberately split gangs and shifts by nationalities. People from different European countries would fight each other with differences from the Balkan conflict coming to the fore. Knife fights were not uncommon, but most were defused in the work place. There was a clear pecking order with Polish near the top and Romanians at the bottom – with the later also having the greatest reputation for trouble.  Gang work proliferated, and still does, with much of it regulated and some of it not or on the face of it legitimate. With open borders the black economy of goods, drugs, tobacco, meat, and people grew. With it grew territorial fights in work places, streets and houses most of it unreported.  Gang work took a social toll on the area.

The banking crisis saw a contraction in the food industry in the area, most notably the Icelandic owned Bakkavor. Yet all this saw was a contraction of regular employment with the gang work, mostly of migrants dominating as it was both cheaper and more expendable. Indeed, in that time of the portfolio of clients I looked after I had 8 gang businesses of mostly British employees (a hang-over from the deindustrialization of the Midlands and mine closures) reduce down to 1 as they were pushed out of business by fair means and foul. This gang work rivalry has always been an issue since the commencement of the industrial age. Indeed, talking to a Sikh gangmaster in Peterborough when his father first came over and did gang work his ability to fight was important in retaining work. In factories you repeatedly saw situations where one nationality would dominate a certain shift, often the most lucrative. Abuse and slavery conditions were overlooked often by big employers. Listening to a canteen worker in one of the factories she did not realise that having one person hold the bank cards of a group of employees was a key sign of abuse. In other cases directly employed people in the day could go back and work in the same factory at night for “cash in hand” due to a process of fake id and payments through a gang. The employers would overlook this. In other cases farmers would be horrified to learn that they had people working on their farms who were receiving next to nothing due to gang abuse. There  was a thin line between ignorance and criminality, with the later enforced by both fear and violence. The black market in people thrived and I have no doubt still does.

Every food factory, good supplier, supermarket and large PLC will have anti-slavery policies and sign up to audit schemes across the food chain. These are designed to prevent exploitation. I have seen these schemes first hand on three occasions and have no doubt that they can be easily manipulated or, in the case of factories, easily fobbed off. Based on what I saw, it’s my opinion that audits to prevent employee exploitation are most likely lip-service. Indeed they seldom look a gang employment issues.

In December 2019 my daughter is doing indoor archery at Spalding Grammar School and I decide to walk into town on this cold December night. I was horrified at the number of homeless people I encountered. Whilst they were homeless for various reasons a group of five taking shelter in an archway off The Crescent had a particular relevance. They looked a sorry state and I bought them some cigarettes to gain their confidence so that I could talk to them. They were illegal immigrants and as such dare not ask for help as in doing so they risked having to agree to detention and returning to their country of origin. They had been here for two years and enjoyed working in the fields with their accommodation provided by their employer. This accommodation varied from multi-occupancy housing to outbuildings and sheds. I asked them to describe the sort of work they did and where they worked. It is clear that some of their employment was local to Spalding on local farms and pack houses. However, wet weather had resulted in work disappearing, and with it their accommodation. Their former boss had also vanished and they were stuck with no work, no money, no shelter, nowhere to live. Whilst not directly responsible it is a failure of the food and farming industry that this had happened.

Gang labour is also prone to fraud. In the late 1990’s I was walking to work early one morning to catch the train in Spalding to go on a course when I came across a young Polish lady who had clearly been sleeping on a bench. I asked if she was OK. She explained that she had paid a fee to an agency to get work in Spalding with accommodation only to arrive at her own expense and find out the agency was fake. She was running low on money, so I gave her enough for the bus fair to go to an address of a gangmaster I knew and tell him that he could speak to me the next day, but he would hopefully provide accommodation and work. I phoned him the following day and he confirmed he was able to help her. Not all gangmasters are bad.

However, the very gang system actually undermines staff availability because of the way it is used makes it not worthwhile as illustrated here. In March 2018 and I stop by the side of the road near Cowbit as the verge is blocked by parked cars and a swarm of about 100 pickers are on a relatively small field. I call out to a guy that I recognise because he lives near me and ask him what is happening. He explains that there are far too many people for a field of this size, but all the agency cares about is cropping for as many farmers as possible (market share) as quickly as possible and disregards the need for him to have a full day’s productive work to make his day worthwhile. He said it was his last year of coming here as it was not worth his while to pick flowers. He explained that he no longer trusted farm work and would look for better work in a factory. I find it ironic that almost identical abuse of the gang system is identified in the 1867 report. Indeed in March 2020 I witnessed a similar occurrence on the A16 Spalding bypass. In this case it was a horrendously wet March, but as I looked across the field I counted over 80 flower pickers. I walked around the field and chatted to a couple of young ladies on the edge of the field. Because of the wet weather the window for picking flowers was tiny. This resulted in them having little work, but when work appeared loads were called in resulting in an hour or two’s work for many rather than a full day’s work for a few. It barely covered the cost of getting to the field and they were truly fed up with this treatment. It’s because I have seen such treatment that I have little sympathy with farmers finding it hard to get workers, except that I do have sympathy with them being stuck in a system that drives this behaviour. It should be noted that in late February 2026 upon visiting the area and talking to flower pickers I have come across very similar behaviour.

Covid ran a coach and horses through the employment system.  Food processing and packing had a shortfall in workers. You saw gang workers from the Midlands that did not normally work in food processing. Recruitment posters were around every factory and rates of pay and available hours of work increased. Gangs still operated, but there was an increase in sharp practice. A practice I have already described where workers could work as an employee during the day and then be paid cash by a gang working in the same factory was not uncommon. Despite cash not being put into the system in notes as it used to be it still worked its way with false identities being used. One can only imagine the criminality behind it. I also know of people who were furloughed from their normal work on full pay enjoying "cash in hand" jobs via the gang system to avoid paying tax.

The plus side of Covid on food and farming employment was that full-time employment was favoured over casual work, and rates of pay increased. There was dumping of crops both due to labour shortages and shortage of storage in the supply chain. Storage shortages were caused by Brexit stockpiling which had been done in anticipation of interruptions to supply chain. A food and farming industry addicted to casual labour was severely challenged. Those that were employed in the industry were able to enjoy greater income through both levels of pay and available hour, albeit often in challenging work conditions. Gang work was still used, but size and reliability of supply was reduced making direct employment more attractive. Whilst I did not see this in the Fenland area, there is a particular trait that happened in fruit picking. Being short of the usual supply of casual employment fruit farmers were appealing for workers. With many local people furloughed I encountered several cases of people offering to work at their local farm only to be told that it was only possible if the lived in caravans on site that they would have to hire. Obviously living close to the farms concerned this was a ridiculous condition and illustrates how a set mindset worked against some farmers who enjoyed being publicly vociferous about labour shortages whilst turning people away.

Employing  casual labour through gangs, often European migrant gangs, was easier than using official direct labour schemes. Food and farming had enjoyed a good supply of mobile labour from throughout most of Europe. This single issue is why, contrary to what many believe, most of the farmers I know and met (about 75%) were against Brexit. I found myself at one farmers meeting listening to farmer after farmer complain that they dreaded an interruption in the labour supply. I was not popular when I suggested that they may be reaping what they had sown by not investing in local labour and selling off housing or turning it into holiday lets. Of course, to some extent I was wrong in that it is the system of gearing greatest profit to the food processor and  retailer that has created this. However, we see the same problem of shortage of labour in the 1860's and lack of housing as we see today, although the housing issue is different for workers today as the issue  is affordable housing. Gang workers will always undermine the pay and conditions of living of local employees because they will work for less, on a low cost of living basis in temporary or overcrowded housing. This is made worse by gangs that work outside of the law or that circumvent regulations. Working class lose out.

In 2026 I have seen a restoration of increased reliance upon casual gang employment. Food processors have cynically made redundant those that had seen pay rises during covid or changed employment contracts. Effectively they have reduced the wages bill fuelled by a government fiscal policy that made employing people more expensive giving them an extra excuse/reason.  I see houses of multiple occupancy starting to increase with regulation circumvented (if the local authority can be bothered to enforce) by using caravans. I am of the opinion that this will continue.